Office 2010 visual quick tips phần 4 potx

2 Click and drag the fill handle that appears in the lower right corner of the active cell across or down the number of cells that you want to fill.. Simply click the window’s Close butt

Chapter 5: Optimizing Excel

Caution!

If you ever run into trouble with automatically launching a workbook, such as a system crash, you may have to visit the Advanced resources and enable the workbook startup again Click the File tab and click Options to open the Excel Options dialog box Click Advanced, and check the folder path in the General settings If you accidentally moved the file, you may need

to fix the designated path listed

More Options!

If you use Excel every day, you can

tell your computer to open the

program automatically when you turn

on your computer You can place a

shortcut to the Excel program in your

Windows XP, Windows Vista, or

Windows 7 Startup folder Look up

your system’s Startup folder and place

a shortcut to Excel in the folder

Note: Be sure to type in the full

folder path accurately or Excel cannot locate your file.

6 Click OK

The next time you open Excel, the designated file opens, too

Note: To remove a startup file,

repeat these steps and delete the path found in the Excel Options dialog box.

Designate a Startup File

1 Click the File tab

2 Click Options

2 1

3 Release the mouse

button and AutoFill fills

in the text series

● An Auto Fill Options

button may appear,

offering additional

AutoFill options For

example, you can opt to

copy the contents of the

first cell into each cell

AutoFill a Text Series

1 Type the first entry in the

text series

2 Click and drag the fill

handle that appears in

the lower right corner of

the active cell across or

down the number of cells

that you want to fill

Often, the data that needs to be entered into

an Excel worksheet is part of a series or

pattern In that case, you can use Excel’s

AutoFill feature to automate data entry

For example, you might type the word

Monday in your spreadsheet, and then use

AutoFill to automatically enter the remaining

days of the week Alternatively, you might type

January, and then use AutoFill to enter the

remaining months of the year

In addition to automating data entry using predefined data lists such as the ones described

in the preceding paragraph, you can create your own custom data lists for use with Excel’s AutoFill feature For example, you might create a custom list that includes the names of co-workers who work on your team,

or a list of products you regularly stock

Along with enabling you to enter predefined

or custom text series, AutoFill allows you to automatically populate cells with a numerical series or pattern

Automate Data

Entry with AutoFill

Chapter 5: Optimizing Excel

4

1 2 3

Customize It!

To add your own custom list to AutoFill’s list library, first enter the contents of the list in your worksheet cells Then do the following:

1 Select the cells containing the list you want to save.

2 Click the File tab.

3 Click Options to open the Excel Options dialog box.

4 Click Advanced.

5 Scroll down to the General group and click Edit Custom Lists.

6 In the Custom Lists dialog box, click Import Excel adds the series to the custom lists.

You can also create a new list by clicking Add and typing your list

7 Click OK to close both dialog boxes.

5 Release the mouse button and AutoFill fills

in the number series

● An Auto Fill Options button may appear, offering additional AutoFill options

AutoFill a Number Series

1 Type the first entry in the number series

2 In an adjacent cell, type the next entry in the number series

3 Select both cells

4 Click and drag the fill handle that appears in the lower right corner of the active cells across or down the number of cells you want to fill

3 1

2

● Excel assigns the new

color

Note: Click another tab to see the

color change in the tab you edited.

● Click Insert Worksheet

to add new sheets, as

needed

Color-Code Sheet Tabs

1 Right-click the tab you

want to edit

2 Click Tab Color

3 Click a color from the

color palette

A little-known organizing tip that most people

never think about is formatting and naming

the actual worksheet tabs At the bottom of

every worksheet, a tab marks the worksheet

name and number in the stack By default, the

tabs are named Sheet1, Sheet2, and so on The

tabs themselves are very plain and nondescript

You can, however, use them to better organize

your worksheet content

For example you might color-code all the sheets

related to the Sales Department in one color

and all the sheets related to the Marketing Department in another This can help you tell

in a glance the purpose of each sheet in the workbook You can assign different colors to different sheets using colors from Excel’s color palette

You can also rename sheets to better describe their content A sheet named “Quarterly Sales”

easily identifies what it contains and differentiates

it from a worksheet named “Yearly Sales.”

Color-Code and Name

Worksheet Tabs

Chapter 5: Optimizing Excel

Try This!

If your workbook consists of dozens of sheets, you may tire of endlessly scrolling to find the one you want Instead, try this trick: Right-click

a scroll arrow to the left of the tab names This displays a pop-up list of all the sheets in the workbook Just click the one you want to view

Remove It!

To remove color-coding from a

worksheet tab, right-click it, click Tab

Color on the pop-up menu, and then

click No Color from the palette This

resets the tab to its original default

The name is assigned

Name Sheet Tabs

1 Right-click the tab you want to edit

2 Click Rename

Note: You can also double-click the

tab name.

2 1

3

The Watch Window

opens

3 Click Add Watch

1 Click the Formulas tab

in the Ribbon

2 Click Watch Window

The longer your worksheet becomes, the more

difficult it is to keep important cells and ranges

in view as you scroll through your worksheet

You can use a Watch Window to monitor

important cell data A Watch Window displays

the cell information no matter where you scroll

in the worksheet

For example, you may want to see the formula

results in the cell at the very top of your

worksheet while you make changes in the data

referenced in the formula at the bottom of the

worksheet You can also use a Watch Window

to view cells in other worksheets or in other

linked workbooks

After adding a Watch Window, you can resize the window or reposition it by dragging it elsewhere on-screen The mini-window can also be docked, much like toolbars of previous incarnations of Excel, to the side or top of the sheet area Just drag it to the edge of the worksheet; Excel immediately tries to dock it there in place

You can also quickly visit the cell referenced in the Watch Window by simply double-clicking the cell reference

Keep Cells in View

with a Watch Window

Chapter 5: Optimizing Excel

Remove It!

When you no longer want to watch cells, you can close the Watch Window Simply click the window’s Close button ( ) in the upper right corner or click the Watch Window button on the Formulas tab To open it again and keep watching the same referenced cell(s), just click the Watch Window button on the Formulas tab again

More Options!

You can add and remove watched cells

in the Watch Window as needed To

add more cells, click the Add Watch

button in the window and follow the

steps in this task to add more cells to

watch To remove cells from the

window, select the cell in the list area

and then click the Delete Watch button

● Excel adds the cell(s) to the window, including any values or formulas within the cells

You can now scroll in the worksheet and the Watch Window stays put

● Click the Watch Window button again to toggle the feature off again

The Add Watch dialog box opens

4 Select the cell or range in the worksheet you want

to watch or type the cell reference

5 Click Add

3 4 1

6

5

The Confirm Password

dialog box appears

6 Retype the password

exactly as you typed it

in step 4

Protect Workbook

Structure

1 Click the Review tab

2 Click Protect Workbook

The Protect Structure and

Windows dialog box

opens

3 Select which options

you want to protect

( changes to )

4 To allow users to view

the workbook but not

make changes, type a

password

5 Click OK

Excel offers several ways to protect data, but the

differences between them can be a bit confusing

For optimal protection, you can protect your

entire workbook file with a password which

allows only authorized users access With this

scenario, you can control who opens the file or

who has permission to make edits This

technique was described in Chapter 2

You can also protect specific data within a

spreadsheet For example, if you share your

workbook with a colleague, you may want to

prevent changes in a cell or changes to

workbook elements You can choose to protect

worksheet elements or protect the workbook

structure, finding options for both on the

Ribbon’s Review tab

Use the Protect Workbook feature to protect a workbook’s structural elements, which include moving, deleting, hiding, or naming

worksheets, adding new worksheets, or viewing hidden sheets You can also use this feature to protect overall window structure, such as moving, resizing, or closing windows Note that users can remove this level of workbook protection unless you assign a password

You can use the Protect Sheet feature to prevent others from editing individual worksheet elements, such as cells, rows, columns, and formatting Note that users can also turn off this protection feature unless you assign a password to the worksheet

Protect Cells from

Unauthorized Changes

Chapter 5: Optimizing Excel

Remove It!

If you no longer want to password-protect a workbook or worksheet, you can easily remove the password protection To unprotect a password-protected workbook, click the Review tab in the Ribbon and click Protect Workbook The Unprotect Workbook dialog box appears; type the password and click OK Unprotect a password-protected worksheet by right-clicking the sheet’s tab and choosing Unprotect Sheet; in the Unprotect Sheet dialog box that opens, type the password and click OK

Caution!

The best passwords contain

a mix of uppercase and

lowercase letters, numbers,

and symbols Remembering

your Excel passwords is critical

If you lose a password, you

cannot make changes to a

password-protected file

Consider writing the password

down and keeping it in a safe

place

2

3 5 4 6 1

7

8

Protect Worksheet Elements

1 Click the Review tab

2 Click Protect Sheet

The Protect Sheet dialog box opens

3 Make sure the Protect Worksheet and Contents

of Locked Cells check box remains selected

4 If you want users to be able to perform certain operations on the data in the worksheet, click the check box next to the desired operation ( changes to )

5 To allow users to view the worksheet but not make changes, type a password

Excel assigns the password

to the worksheet The next time you or any other user opens the worksheet, only the features you selected will be available

2 1

3 Press Enter

● Excel generates a random

number in the cell

4 Click and drag the

selected cell’s fill handle

across or down as many

cells as you want to fill

with random numbers

Excel fills the cells when

you release the mouse

button

1 Click inside the cell

where you want to start

the random numbering

You can use the RAND() function to generate

random numbers in your worksheet cells For

example, you may want to generate random

lottery numbers or fill your cells with random

numbers for a template or as placeholder text

Depending on how you define the variables,

you can generate a number between 0 and a

maximum number that you specify For

example, if you define 100 as the maximum,

the function randomly generates numbers

between 0 and 100

After assigning the function to one cell in your

worksheet, you can use the fill handle to

populate the other cells in the sheet with more

random numbers The numbers you generate with the RAND() function take on the default numbering style for the cells By default, Excel applies the General number format, with means that decimal numbers may appear

To limit your random numbers to whole numbers, you can set the style to Number style and the decimal places to 0 using the Format Cells dialog box You may want to do this before applying the function; from the Home tab, click the Number group’s icon to open the Format Cells dialog box, select the Number category, and adjust the decimal places to suit your needs

Generate Random

Numbers in Your Cells

Chapter 5

1

2

3 4

● Excel adds a solid line in the worksheet to set off the frozen headings

● When you scroll through the worksheet, the headings remain on-screen

● To unfreeze the cells again, click Freeze Panes and choose Unfreeze Panes

1 Click the cell below the row you want to freeze

or to the right of the column you want to freeze

2 Click the View tab

3 Click Freeze Panes

4 Click Freeze Panes

As you work with longer worksheets in Excel,

it may become important to keep your column

or row labels in view The longer or wider your

worksheet becomes, the more time you spend

scrolling back to the top of the worksheet to

see which heading is which Excel has a freeze

feature you can use to lock your row or

column headings in place You can freeze them

into position so that they are always in view

If you print out the worksheet, row and

column headings appear as they normally do in

their respective positions on the worksheet You can, however, instruct Excel to print column or row headings on every printed page using the Page Setup dialog box In the Page Setup group on the Page Layout tab, click the Page Setup icon to open the Page Setup dialog box Click the Sheet tab, and under the Print titles section you can specify the row or column heading cell range to repeat

Freeze Headings for

Easier Scrolling

1 2

4 Press Enter

● Excel adds the comment

to the Formula field only,

and the cell displays only

the formula results

1 Click the cell containing

the formula you want

to edit

2 Click inside the Formula

field where you want to

insert a comment

3 Type +N(“?”), replacing

the ? with the comment

text you want to add

You can add comments to your formulas to

help explain the formula construction or

purpose, or remind you to check something

out about the formula For example, you can

add instructions about how to use the formula

elsewhere in the worksheet

Ordinarily, when you want to add a comment

to your Excel worksheet, you use the comment

text boxes Comments can include anything

from a note about a task to an explanation

about the data that a cell contains To add a comment to a formula, you use the N() function instead of comment text boxes The N() function enables you to add notes within the formula itself without affecting how the formula works

The N() function is one of the many hundreds

of functions available in Excel To learn more about functions, check out the Excel Help feature

Insert a Comment

in a Formula

Chapter 5

1 Click inside the cell in which you want to display the text that you join together

2 Type =CONCATENATE

(?,” “,?,” “,?) Replace

the ? with cell references

that contain the component names

Note: Do not forget to press the

spacebar between the quotation marks to add space between the names you join.

Note: Be sure to write the cell

references in the order in which you want them to join together.

3 Press Enter

● Excel combines the referenced cells into one cell

You can use the CONCATENATE function to

join text from separate cells into a text string

For example, for a spreadsheet that lists the

last, first, and middle names of a list of people

in three separate columns, you can use the

CONCATENATE function to join the names

to print out or paste into another document

When you use the CONCATENATE function,

it is important to include spaces between the

text strings to mimic spaces between names In

the formula, you can indicate spaces by

entering actual spaces within quotes If the

combined names require other punctuation, such as a comma, use a comma within the quotes between cell references After establishing the formula for the first name in the list, copy the formula down the rows of the worksheet to join together the remaining names in the list

You can use this same technique to join other types of text strings in Excel, such as product names and prices to print out for a customer,

or dates and locations to give to a colleague

Join Text from

Separate Cells

2 1

3 1

4

The Excel Options dialog

box opens to the Quick

Access Toolbar settings

3 Click the category

drop-down arrow

4 Click Commands Not in

the Ribbon

1 Click the Customize

Quick Access Toolbar

button located at the

end of the toolbar

2 Click More Commands

Note: You can also add the

Calculator tool to any Ribbon tab

See Chapter 1 to learn more about

customizing the Ribbon.

You can add a digital version of a hand-held

calculator to the Quick Access toolbar to that

you can perform your own mathematical

calculations By activating the Calculator

button, you can open a Calculator window and

use the number pad buttons or the numeric

keypad on your keyboard to enter calculations

You may find the Calculator window handy for

a variety of calculating tasks For example, if

you need to add several numbers together

before entering them into a worksheet cell,

you can use the Calculator window to quickly total the data

To add the Calculator to the Quick Access toolbar, you must customize the toolbar with a little help from the Excel Options dialog box

The Calculator tool, when added, appears as a tiny calculator icon on the toolbar As its own window, you can move it around, minimize it

to the Windows taskbar, and close it when you

no longer need it

Add a Calculator to the

Quick Access Toolbar

Chapter 5: Optimizing Excel

Remove It!

You can remove the Calculator tool from the Quick Access toolbar just as easily as you placed it there You can choose from two methods One method is to reopen the Excel Options dialog box as shown in this task, click the Calculator’s Custom name in the right list box, and click the Remove button in the center

of the dialog box Click OK and the icon is removed from the toolbar Another method is

to right-click the button and click Remove from Quick Access Toolbar

Try This!

You can save yourself some

repetitive typing time by simply

copying and pasting a calculation

result from the Calculator window

to an Excel worksheet cell With

the Calculator window active,

press Ctrl+C to copy the results to

the Windows Clipboard Next, click

inside the cell where you want to

paste the data and press Ctrl+V

Voila! The data appears in the cell

● Click here to close the window

5 Scroll to and click the Calculator tool

6 Click Add

● Excel adds it to the toolbar list of commands

7 Click OK

4

1

2

4 Make edits to the formula

in the Formula bar

In this example, a typo in

Check Errors

1 Click the Formulas tab

2 Click Error Checking

● Excel displays the Error

Checking dialog box and

highlights the first cell

containing an error

● To find help with an

error, you can click here

● To ignore the error, click

Ignore Error

● You can click Previous

and Next to scroll

through all of the errors

on the worksheet

3 To fix the error, click Edit

in Formula Bar

If you see an error message, you should

double-check your formula to ensure that you

referenced the correct cells One way to do so

is to click the Smart Tag icon that Excel

displays alongside any errors it detects; doing

so opens a menu of options, including options

for correcting the error For example, you can

click Help on This Error to find out more

about the error message

To help you with errors that arise when

dealing with larger worksheets in Excel, you

can use Excel’s Formula Auditing tools to

examine and correct formula errors In particular, the Error Checking feature looks through your worksheet for errors and helps you find solutions

Auditing tools can trace the path of your formula components and check each cell reference that contributes to the formula

When tracing the relationships between cells,

you can display tracer lines to find precedents

(that is, cells referred to in a formula) and

dependents (cells that contain formula results).

Audit a Worksheet

for Errors

Chapter 5: Optimizing Excel

Try This!

To quickly ascertain the relationships among various cells in your worksheet, click a cell, click the Formulas tab on the Ribbon, and click Trace Precedents or Trace Dependents in the Formula Auditing group Excel displays trace lines from the current cell to related cells — that is, cells with formulas that reference it or vice versa

Did You Know?

You can click Evaluate Formula in the

Formulas tab’s Formula Auditing group to

check over a formula or function step by

step Simply click the cell containing the

formula you want to evaluate and click

Evaluate Formula; Excel opens the Evaluate

Formula dialog box, where you can

evaluate each portion of the formula to

check it for correct references and values

● You can make changes

to the cell contents or changes to the formula

to correct the error

5 Click Remove Arrows to turn off the trace lines

Trace Errors

1 Click in the cell containing the formula, content, or error you want to trace

2 Click the Formulas tab

3 Click the Error Checking drop-down arrow

4 Click Trace Error

5 3

2 In an adjacent cell, type

the second known value

3 Select both cells

4 Position the mouse

pointer over the fill

handle that appears in

the lower right corner

of the active cells

5 Right-click and drag

across or down the

number of cells you

want to fill with linear

trend data

A context menu appears

6 Click Linear Trend

● Excel inserts the numbers

that comprise the linear

trend

You can use Excel to create projections in a

manner similar to using the program’s AutoFill

feature Excel offers a few options for creating

projections One is to determine a linear trend —

that is, to add a step value (the difference

between the first and next values in the series)

to each subsequent value Another is to assess a

growth trend, in which the starting value is

multiplied by the step value rather than added

to the value in order to obtain the next value

in the series, with the resulting product and

each subsequent product again being multiplied by the step value

The easiest way to create a projection is to use Excel’s automatic trending functionality With it, you can simply right-click and drag to generate

a projection You can also create projections manually, entering a start value, a stop value, and the increment by which the trend should change If your data is in chart form, you can still generate projections and even include a line

in your chart to indicate the trend

Create

Projections